This illustrated graphic shows the two newfound Kepler-20 planets shown to scale with Earth and Venus.Two planets orbiting a star 950 light-years from Earth are the smallest, most Earth-size alien worlds known, astronomers announced Tues., Dec. 20. One of the planets is actually smaller than Earth, scientists say.

These planets, while roughly the size of our planet Earth, are circling very close to their star, giving them fiery temperatures that are most likely too hot to support life, researchers said. The discovery, however, brings scientists one step closer to finding a true twin of Earth that may be habitable.

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"We've crossed a threshold: For the first time, we've been able to detect planets smaller than the Earth around another star," lead researcher François Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., told SPACE.com. "We proved that Earth-size planets exist around other stars like the sun, and most importantly, we proved that humanity is able to detect them. It's the beginning of an era."

To discover the new planets, Fressin and his colleagues used NASA's Kepler space telescope, which noticed the tiny dips in the parent star's brightness when the planets passed in front of it, blocking some of its light (this is called the transit method). The researchers then used ground-based observatories to confirm that the planets actually exist by measuring minute wobbles in the star's position caused by gravitational tugs from its planets.

"These two new planets are the first genuinely Earth-sized worlds that have been found orbiting a sunlike star," University of California, Santa Cruz astronomer Greg Laughlin, who was not involved in the new study, said in an email to SPACE.com. "For the past two decades, it has been clear that astronomers would eventually reach this goal, and so it's fantastic to learn that the detection has now been achieved." [Gallery: Smallest Alien Planets Ever Seen]

Chances for life

The two Earth-size planets are among five alien worlds orbiting a star called Kepler-20 that is of the same class (G-type) as our sun, and is slightly cooler.

Two of the star system's planets, Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are 0.87 times and 1.03 times the width of Earth, respectively, making them the smallest exoplanets yet known. They also appear to be rocky, and have masses less than 1.7 and 3 times Earth's mass, respectively.

Kepler-20e makes a circle around its star once every 6.1 days at a distance of 4.7 million miles (7.6 million kilometers) — almost 20 times closer than Earth, which orbits the sun at around 93 million miles (150 million km).

The planet's sibling, Kepler-20f, makes a full orbit every 19.6 days, at a distance of 10.3 million miles (16.6 million km). Both planets circle closer to their star than Mercury does to the sun. [Infographic: Earth-Size Alien Planets Explained]

Fressin said the chance of life on either of these planets is "negligible," though the researchers can't exclude the possibility that they used to be habitable in the past, when they might have been farther from their star. There is also a slim chance that there are habitable regions on the planets in spots between their day and night sides (the planets orbit with one half constantly facing their star and the other half always in dark). But astronomers aren't holding out hope.

"The chances of liquid water and life as we know it on Kepler-20e and f are zero," Laughlin said.

Flip-flopped planets

The planetary system around Kepler-20 is an unusual one.

For one thing, scientists say the rocky planets can't have formed in their current locations.

"There's not enough rocky material that close to the host star to form five planets," Fressin said. "They didn't form here; they probably formed farther from their star and migrated in."

Furthermore, the five planets are in an odd order, with the rocky worlds alternating with their gaseous, Neptune-size siblings. That's quite different from most solar systems, including our own, which keeps the rocky terrestrial worlds in close to the sun, with the gas giants farther out.

"How did that form?" Fressin said. "I think it's a puzzle the theorists will have to try to explain."

The star's other planets are called Kepler-20b, 20c, and 20d. Their diameters are 15,000 miles (24,000 km), 24,600 miles (40,000 km), and 22,000 miles (35,000 km), respectively, and they orbit Kepler-20 once every 3.7, 10.9, and 77.6 days.

The largest of these, Kepler-20d, weighs a little under 20 times Earth's mass, while Kepler-20c is 16.1 times as heavy as Earth, and Kepler-20b is 8.7 times our planet's mass.

Evolving effort

Scientists say finding the smallest exoplanets yet represents a significant milestone in the fast-evolving effort to learn about planets beyond the solar system.

The first alien planet was discovered in 1996, and the first planet found through the transit method came just 11 years ago. Both of those planets were roughly the size of Jupiter.

"I think we're living in special times," Fressin said. "This was unfeasible 10 years ago, and just with the quality of detectors and the quality of the treatment is it possible now."

The total tally of known alien planets is above 700. Kepler alone has discovered 28 definite alien planets, and 2,326 planet candidates, since its launch in March 2009.

Earlier this month, the Kepler team announced another landmark find, the first planet known to occupy the habitable zonearound its star where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist.

That planet, called Kepler-22b, is about 2.4 times as wide as Earth.

The dream now is for astronomers to combine the two discoveries and find an Earth-size planet that's also orbiting its star in an Earth-like orbit that puts it in the habitable zone.

"The holy grail of the search for other worlds is to find an Earth analogue, a true Earth twin," Fressin said. "We just need to have these two pieces of the puzzle together."

While the newfound planets orbit with periods of 6.1 and 19.6 days, Fressin estimated the habitable zone around Kepler-20 begins at orbits that take roughly 100 days to make a circuit.

Astronomers think it's only a matter of time before they finally find one that's just right.

"These discoveries are a great technological step forward — to detect small planets, in size like Earth — but these planets are very hot and not in the habitable zone around their star," astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics wrote in an email. Kaltenegger, who studies the habitability of exoplanets, was not involved in the new study. "If we can already find these small planets with radii around Earth's now, some future ones could be in the habitable zone of their stars and THOSE future ones would be great targets to look for liquid water and signatures for life."

A paper detailing the discovery was published online in the journal Nature Dec. 20.

* 11 Best Astronomy Stories of 2011* Gallery: A World of Kepler Planets* Kepler Reveals Lots of Planets: Some Habitable?

Dec. 25th began with a pair of magnetic filaments erupting in the sun’s northern hemisphere followed by a sequence of C-flares from sunspot 1385 in the sun’s southern hemisphere. Both halves of the sun are rocking on Christmas. Coronagraph images from STEREO-A and -B suggest a possible Earth-directed CME A filament of magnetism connected to sunspot AR1386 erupted during the early hours of Dec. 24th. Extreme UV-wavelength cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the picturesque blast. –Space Weather

Jan. 13, 2012: Forty light years from Earth, a rocky world named "55 Cancri e" circles perilously close to a stellar inferno. Completing one orbit in only 18 hours, the alien planet is 26 times closer to its parent star than Mercury is to the Sun. If Earth were in the same position, the soil beneath our feet would heat up to about 3200 F. Researchers have long thought that 55 Cancri e must be a wasteland of parched rock.

Now they’re thinking again. New observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that 55 Cancri e may be wetter and weirder than anyone imagined.

An artist's concept of Earth and 55 Cancri e positioned side by side for comparison.

Spitzer recently measured the extraordinarily small amount of light 55 Cancri e blocks when it crosses in front of its star. These transits occur every 18 hours, giving researchers repeated opportunities to gather the data they need to estimate the width, volume and density of the planet.

According to the new observations, 55 Cancri e has a mass 7.8 times and a radius just over twice that of Earth. Those properties place 55 Cancri e in the "super-Earth" class of exoplanets, a few dozen of which have been found. Only a handful of known super-Earths, however, cross the face of their stars as viewed from our vantage point in the cosmos, so 55 Cancri e is better understood than most.

When 55 Cancri e was discovered in 2004, initial estimates of its size and mass were consistent with a dense planet of solid rock. Spitzer data suggest otherwise: About a fifth of the planet's mass must be made of light elements and compounds--including water. Given the intense heat and high pressure these materials likely experience, researchers think the compounds likely exist in a "supercritical" fluid state.

A supercritical fluid is a high-pressure, high-temperature state of matter best described as a liquid-like gas, and a marvelous solvent. Water becomes supercritical in some steam turbines--and it tends to dissolve the tips of the turbine blades.

Supercritical carbon dioxide is used to remove caffeine from coffee beans, and sometimes to dry-clean clothes. Liquid-fueled rocket propellant is also supercritical when it emerges from the tail of a spaceship.

On 55 Cancri e, this stuff may be literally oozing--or is it steaming?--out of the rocks.

With supercritical solvents rising from the planet’s surface, a star of terrifying proportions filling much of the daytime sky, and whole years rushing past in a matter of hours, 55 Cancri e teaches a valuable lesson: Just because a planet is similar in size to Earth does not mean the planet is like Earth.

Credits: The original research reported in this story has been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The lead author is Brice-Olivier Demory, a post-doctoral associate in Professor Sara Seager's group at MIT.

Jan. 19, 2012: A powerful M2-class solar flare erupts from the sun in this image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

A powerful flare erupted from the sun Thursday, Jan. 19, unleashing a plasma wave that may supercharge the northern lights for skywatchers in high latitudes this weekend.

The solar flare occurred at about 11:30 am EST (1600 GMT) and touched off a massive solar explosion — known as a coronal mass ejection — aimed at Earth, space weather experts and officials said. The charged particles from the sun explosion should reach Earth by Saturday night (Jan. 21), and could amp up northern lights displays when they hit the upper atmosphere.

"Forecasters say strong geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives during the late hours of Jan. 21st. High-latitude (and possibly middle-latitude) sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend," the skywatching website Spaceweather.com announced in an alert.

Several space telescopes recorded photos and video of the solar flare, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). [Photo and video of the solar flare]

According to the Space Weather Prediction Center maintained by NOAA, Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot group called Region 1401. Another solar hotspot, called Region 1402, is also fired off a flare, the center reported.

Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, releasing visible light in the process. The particles are funneled toward Earth's polar regions by the planet's magnetic field, with the northern auroral displays known as the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The southern counterpart is called the aurora australis, or southern lights.

Thursday's solar flare rated as a powerful M2-class sun storm on the scale used by astronomers to measure flare strength. M-class storms are powerful, but mid-range, types of solar flares. They fall between the weaker C-class flares and the most powerful X-class solar storms, which can pose a threat to satellites and astronauts in orbit, cause widespread communications interference and damage infrastructure on Earth when aimed directly at the planet.

SDO mission scientists have said that sunspot group 1401 has been unleashing solar flares almost daily as the sun's rotation slowly turned the solar hotspot toward Earth in recent days. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the region unleashed an M1.7-class solar flare, they said in a Twitter post.

The sun is currently in the middle of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current sun storm cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to peak in 2013, NASA scientists have said.

SPACE.com StaffDate: 23 January 2012 Time: 11:47 AM ETSHARE ] This SDO image (AIA 193) shows an M9-class solar flare erupting on the Sun's northeastern hemisphere at 03:49 UT on Jan. 23, 2012... just 4 days after a previous strong CME that sparked aurora around the world on the 22nd. More geomagnetic activity is expected for the 24th.

CREDIT: NASA/SDO and the AIA Consortium/Edited by J. Major

View full size image This story was updated at 2:03 p.m. EST.

A powerful solar eruption is expected to blast a stream of charged particles toward Earth tomorrow (Jan. 24), as the strongest radiation storm since 2005 rages on the sun.

Early this morning (0359 GMT Jan. 23, which corresponds to late Sunday, Jan. 22 at 10:59 p.m. EST), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught an extreme ultraviolet flash from a huge eruption on the sun , according to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com.

The solar flare spewed from sunspot 1402, a region of the sun that has become increasingly active lately. Several NASA satellites, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Stereo spacecraft observed the massive sun storm.

"Shocking" Horoscopes http://www.premiumastrology.comwhat/ Does 2012 Have In Store For You? Shockingly Accurate. See Free!Age 50+ in Canada? http://www.instaflex.comgnc/'s #1 Joint Supplement in the US is now available in Canada!What is Quantum Jumping? http://www.quantumjumping.comdiscover/ Why Thousands of People are "Jumping" to Change Their LifeAds by GoogleA barrage of charged particles triggered by this morning's solar flare is expected to hit Earth tomorrow at around 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT), according to experts at the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [Video & photos of the huge solar flare]

According to NOAA, this is the strongest solar radiation storm since May 2005, and as a precaution, polar flights on Earth are expected to be re-routed within the next few hours, Kathy Sullivan, deputy administrator of NOAA, said today at the 92nd annual American Meteorological Society meeting in New Orleans, La.

View full size imageScientists call these electromagnetic bursts "coronal mass ejections" (CMEs), and they are closely studied because they can produce potentially harmful geomagnetic storms when the charged particles rain down Earth's magnetic field lines.

In addition to generating stronger than normal displays of Earth's auroras (also known as the northern and southern lights), geomagnetic storms aimed directly at our planet can also disrupt satellites in orbit, cause widespread communications interference and damage other electronic infrastructures.

"There is little doubt that the cloud is heading in the general direction of Earth," Spaceweather.com announced in an alert. "A preliminary inspection of SOHO/STEREO imagery suggests that the CME will deliver a strong glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 24-25 as it sails mostly north of our planet."

Sunday's solar flare was rated an M9-class eruption, which placed it just on the verge of being an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm. M-class sun storms are powerful but mid-range, while C-class flares are weaker.

NASA routinely monitors space weather conditions to determine any potential hazards to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Based on the agency's assessment, the six spaceflyers currently living and working on the orbiting outpost are not in any danger, said NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.

"The flight surgeons have reviewed the space weather forecasts for the flare and determined that there are no expected adverse effects or actions required to protect the on-orbit crew," Humphries told SPACE.com in an email.

Last week, a separate sunspot group unleashed several M-class flares, and SDO scientists said these types of flares are occurring almost daily as the sun's rotation slowly turns the region toward Earth.

The sun's activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle. Currently, our planet's nearest star is in the midst of Solar Cycle 24, and activity is expected to ramp up toward solar maximum in 2013.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing northern lights photo, or other skywatching image, and would like to share it for a possible story or gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

OurAmazingPlanet staff writer Brett Israel (@btisrael) contributed to this report from New Orleans, La. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

January 30, 2012 – WORLD – Space weather – variable conditions in the space surrounding Earth – has important consequences for our lives inside Earth’s atmosphere. Solar activity occurring miles outside Earth’s atmosphere, for example, can trigger magnetic storms on Earth. These storms are visually stunning, but they can set our modern infrastructure spinning. On Jan. 19, scientists saw a solar flare in an active region of the Sun, along with a concentrated blast of solar-wind plasma and magnetic field lines known as a coronal mass ejection that burst from the Sun’s surface and appeared to be headed for Earth. When these solar winds met Earth’s magnetic field, the interaction created one of the largest magnetic storms on Earth recorded in the past few years. The storm peaked on Jan. 24, just as another storm began. “These new storms, and the storm we witnessed on Sept 26, 2011, indicate the up-tick in activity coming with the Earth’s ascent into the next solar maximum,” said USGS geophysicist Jeffrey Love.” This solar maximum is the period of greatest activity in the solar cycle of the Sun, and it is predicted to occur sometime in 2013, which will increase the amount of magnetic storms on Earth. Magnetic storms, said Love, are a space weather phenomenon responsible for the breathtaking lights of the aurora borealis, but also sometimes for the disruption of technology and infrastructure our modern society depends on.

DISRUPTIONS ON EARTH

Disruptions on Earth: Large magnetic storms, for example, can interrupt radio communication, interfere with global-positioning systems, disrupt oil and gas well drilling, damage satellites and affect their operations, and even cause electrical blackouts by inducing voltage surges in electric power grids. Storms can also affects airline activity — as a result of last weekend’s storm, both Air Canada and Delta Air Lines rerouted flights over the Arctic bound for Asia as a precautionary measure. Although the storm began on the 19th of January, it did not peak until January 24th. While this particular storm had minor consequences on Earth, other large storms can be crippling, Love said. He noted that the largest storm of the 20th century occurred in March, 1989, accompanied by auroras that could be seen as far south as Texas, and sent electric currents into Earth’s crust that made their way into the high-voltage Canadian Hydro-Quebec power grid. This caused the transformer to fail and left more than 6 million people without power for 9 hours. The same storm also damaged and disrupted the operation of satellites, GPS systems, and radio communication systems used by the United States military. While large, the 1989 storm pales in comparison to one that occurred in September 1859 and is the largest storm in recorded history. Scientists estimate that the economic impact to the United States from a storm of the same size in today’s society could exceed $1 trillion as a result of the technological systems it could disrupt. The USGS, a partner in the multi-agency National Space Weather Program, collects data that can help us understand how magnetic storms may impact the United States. Constant monitoring of Earth’s magnetic field allows us to better assess the impact of these phenomena on Earth’s surface. -USGS

NEWFOUND ALIEN PLANET IS BEST CANDIDATE YET TO SUPPORT LIFE, SCIENTISTS SAY

A potentially habitable alien planet has been found orbiting a nearby star

By Denise Chow and SPACE.com | February 2, 2012 | 23

An artist's conception of the alien planet GJ 667Cc, which is located in the habitable zone of its parent star.

Image: Carnegie Institution for Science

A potentially habitable alien planet — one that scientists say is the best candidate yet to harbor water, and possibly even life, on its surface — has been found around a nearby star.

The planet is located in the habitable zone of its host star, which is a narrow circumstellar region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.

"It's the Holy Grail of exoplanet research to find a planet around a star orbiting at the right distance so it's not too close where it would lose all its water and boil away, and not too far where it would all freeze," Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told SPACE.com. "It's right smack in the habitable zone — there's no question or discussion about it. It's not on the edge, it's right in there."

Vogt is one of the authors of the new study, which was led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution for Science, a private, nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.

"This planet is the new best candidate to support liquid water and, perhaps, life as we know it," Anglada-Escudé said in a statement.

An alien super-Earth

The researchers estimate that the planet, called GJ 667Cc, is at least 4.5 times as massive as Earth, which makes it a so-called super-Earth. It takes roughly 28 days to make one orbital lap around its parent star, which is located a mere 22 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Scorpius (the Scorpion).

"This is basically our next-door neighbor," Vogt said. "It's very nearby. There are only about 100 stars closer to us than this one."

Interestingly enough, the host star, GJ 667C, is a member of a triple-star system. GJ 667C is an M-class dwarf star that is about a third of the mass of the sun, and while it is faint, it can be seen by ground-based telescopes, Vogt said. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

"The planet is around one star in a triple-star system," Vogt explained. "The other stars are pretty far away, but they would look pretty nice in the sky."

The discovery of a planet around GJ 667C came as a surprise to the astronomers, because the entire star system has a different chemical makeup than our sun. The system has much lower abundances of heavy elements (elements heavier than hydrogen and helium), such as iron, carbon and silicon.

"It's pretty deficient in metals," Vogt said. "These are the materials out of which planets form — the grains of stuff that coalesce to eventually make up planets — so we shouldn't have really expected this star to be a likely case for harboring planets."

The fortuitous discovery could mean that potentially habitable alien worlds could exist in a greater variety of environments than was previously thought possible, the researchers said.

"Statistics tell us we shouldn't have found something this quickly this soon unless there's a lot of them out there," Vogt said. "This tells us there must be an awful lot of these planets out there. It was almost too easy to find, and it happened too quickly."

The detailed findings of the study will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

MASSIVE SUNSPOT THAT HAS DOUBLED IN SIZE IN RECENT DAYS COULD SEND SOLAR STORMS CAREEEING TOWARD EARTH

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 6:20 PM on 12th February 2012

A massive double-barrelled sunspot that has doubled in size in the past few days could now send a series of solar flares towards Earth.

Though the severity of the disruption is yet unknown, some scientists are predicting the spot could send off medium-scale solar flares.

These could cause radio blackouts and disruptions in the Earth’s polar regions.

Earth-bound: This February 12, 2012 handout image provided by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the double-barreled sunspot active region 1416, which is aimed at the Earth

According to SpaceWeather.com, the sunspot in active region 1416 could send out ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic energy in what is known as an M-class flare.

Though M-class flares aren’t nearly as dangerous as X-class flares, which affect satellites and electrical grids as well as lasting radiation storms, people could still notice minor inconveniences such as radio disturbances.

M-class flares can also cause the aurora borealis to erupt in dazzling light shows.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, in a review of future satellite needs, is examining opportunities to increase international collaboration and orders from commercial providers, a senior U.S. Air Force official said on Wednesday.

Richard McKinney, deputy undersecretary for space programs, said separate reviews are under way for four current satellite systems that warn military commanders of enemy missile launches, provide secure military communications, track what is going on in outer space, and monitor weather on Earth.

He said the reviews should be completed this spring to help inform budget decisions for the fiscal 2014 year. The Pentagon is looking at how to improve the resiliency of current systems, increase international collaboration, and in the case of military communications, the role of commercial providers.

The U.S. military is committed to increasing international collaboration on space programs, McKinney told reporters at a conference hosted by Aviation Week. "In the era of more constrained budgets, we're going to take a look at how we can leverage each other's capabilities," he said.

Under a recent Air Force agreement with five countries, McKinney said, the countries will pay for a ninth Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) satellite built by Boeing Co.N> and join Australia in using services provided by the new satellite. He said that deal was in line with a new national space policy released in 2010 that called for enhanced international cooperation.

He said current U.S. satellites already relied on some components from international suppliers.

The Pentagon's fiscal 2013 budget proposed cutting spending on space programs by 22 percent to around $8 billion, but McKinney told the Aviation Week conference that the U.S. military is committed to continued investment in the area.

Budget documents attributed the cut to reduced procurement plans for satellites and launch vehicles, along with the congressionally mandated cancellation of the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS), built by Northrop Grumman Corp.

The Air Force halted work on the DWSS program on January 17.

McKinney said the budget cut reflected the "huge amount of money" that had been spent in recent years to replace aging satellites and did not point to any lack of commitment to space programs. In fact, he said, U.S. satellite programs are now as healthy as they had ever been.

"I believe we are still moving forward on space; we are still buying satellites," he told the conference.

The budget includes $1.27 billion for two new satellites in the GPS 3 satellite navigation system; $950 for two more Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellites built by Lockheed Martin Corp; and $786 million for two more Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites built by Lockheed.

Congress had allocated $125 million in fiscal 2012 for work on a follow-on system for the cancelled weather satellite. McKinney said it was not yet clear how that money would be used.

He said money is clearly tighter than before, and the U.S. military is looking more comprehensively at cross-domain issues, or how space assets worked together with other military programs, and how space-based capabilities could be replaced by other assets if satellite service were interrupted.

McKinney said the fiscal 2013 budget included funding to refurbish two legacy Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellites that have been in storage for several years but would be launched in coming years.

He said launching those satellites should prevent any satellite capability gap, but the ongoing review would reevaluate current military needs.

"I think we're okay for now," he said, although he noted that problems with the two satellites, or with their later launches, could pose risks in the future.

A dangerous asteroid heading to the Earth was spotted by stargazers three years after it had got onto its current orbitTAGS: Space, SciTech, Thrills&Spills

To avert a possible catastrophe – this time set for February 2013 – scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint or big guns. The stickler is that time has long run out to build a spaceship to carry out the operation.

­NASA's data shows the 60-meter asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, will whistle by Earth in 11 months. Its trajectory will bring it within a hair’s breadth of our planet, raising fears of a possible collision.

The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Moscow’s University of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM).

“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision,” said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia’s Izvestia. “The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat,” said Dr. Dunham.

In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.

In response to the threat, scientists have come up with some ingenious methods to avert a potential disaster.

­Fireworks and watercolorsWith the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact.

This plot of data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the light from a "super-Earth"…

Light from an alien "super-Earth" twice the size of our own Earth has been detected by a NASA space telescope for the first time in what astronomers are calling a historic achievement.NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope spotted light from the alien planet 55 Cancri e, which orbits a star 41 light-years from Earth. A day on the extrasolar planet lasts just 18 hours.

The planet 55 Cancri e was first discovered in 2004 and is not a habitable world. Instead, it is known as a super-Earth because of its size: The world is about twice the width of Earth and is super-dense, with about eight times the mass of Earth.

But until now, scientists have never managed to detect the infrared light from the super-Earth world.

"Spitzer has amazed us yet again," said Spitzer program scientist Bill Danch of NASA headquarters in Washington in a statement today (May 8). "The spacecraft is pioneering the study of atmospheres of distant planets and paving the way for NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to apply a similar technique on potentially habitable planets."

Spitzer first detected infrared light from an alien planet in 2005. But that world was "hot Jupiter," a gas giant planet much larger than 55 Cancri e that orbited extremely close to its parent star. While other telescopes have performed similar feats since then, Spitzer's view of the 55 Cancri e is the first time the light from a rocky super-Earth type planet has been seen, researchers said.

Since the discovery of 55 Cancri e, astronomers have pinned down increasingly strange features about the planet. The researchers already knew it was part of an alien solar system containing five exoplanets centered on the star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer (The Crab). [Gallery: The Oozing Planet 55 Cancri e]But 55 Cancri e stood out because it is ultra-dense and orbits extremely close to its parent star; about 26 times closer than the distance between Mercury and our own sun.

The new Spitzer observations revealed that the star-facing side of 55 Cancri e is extremely hot, with temperatures reaching up to 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,726 degrees Celsius). The planet is likely a dark world that lacks the substantial atmosphere needed to warm its nighttime side, researchers said.And to top it all off, the planet is oozing.

Past observations of the planet by the Spitzer Space Telescope have suggested that one-fifth of 55 Cancri e is made up of lighter elements, including water. But the extreme temperatures and pressures on 55 Cancri e would create what scientists call a "supercritical fluid" state.

Supercritical fluids can be imagined as a gas in a liquid state, which can occur under extreme pressures and temperatures. On Earth, water can become a supercritical fluid inside some steam engines.

The previous studies of 55 Cancri e were performed by analyzing how the light from its parent star changed as the planet passed in front of it, a technique known as the "transit method." In the new study, astronomers used the Spitzer Space Telescope to determine the infrared light from 55 Cancri e itself.

Spitzer's new look at 55 Cancri e is consistent with supercritical-fluid waterworld theory. The planet is likely a rocky world covered with water in a supercritical fluid state and topped off with a steam blanket, researchers said.

"It could be very similar to Neptune, if you pulled Neptune in toward our sun and watched its atmosphere boil away," said the study's principal investigator Michaël Gillon of Université de Liège in Belgium. The lead author is Brice-Olivier Demory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

The research is detailed in the Astrophysical Journal.

NASA's $770 million Spitzer Space Telescope launched in 2003 and is currently in an extended mission to study the universe in infrared light. During that extended mission, telescope engineers modified several settings on the observatory to optimize its alien planet vision, NASA officials said.

The space agency's next major infrared space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope slated to launch in 2018, could potentially reveal even more details about 55 Cancri e and other similar super-Earth planets."When we conceived of Spitzer more than 40 years ago, exoplanets hadn't even been discovered," said Michael Werner, Spitzer project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Because Spitzer was built very well, it's been able to adapt to this new field and make historic advances such as this." You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Planets Large and Small Populate Our Galaxy (Infographic)Alien Super-Earth Goes Supercritical?Gallery: The Infrared Universe Seen by Spitzer TelescopeCopyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thirty-three national parks, including the Grand Canyon, are positioned to observe …

When the sun vanishes behind the moon for the first time over the United States in this century, what better place to enjoy the view than from one of the 154 national parks that stand in its path?Astronomy lovers in the United States will be treated to a partial disappearance of the sun behind the moon this Sunday (May 20). Only the Eastern Seaboard will be totally exempt. Over the course of the solar eclipse, the sun won't vanish completely, but will remain as a ring around the moon for what is known as an annular eclipse. When the eclipse occurs, the moon will be near its most distant point from Earth, making it appear smaller in the sky and thus unable to block the entire sun. But it will still be a stunning sight.Thirty-three national parks will see the full effect of the moon's interference. Many western parks will be offering an array of events for their guests, ranging from placing telescopes out for viewing up to a full-scale astronomy festival."We're lucky that so many parks happen to lie within the path of the annular eclipse," Grand Canyon park ranger Marker Marshall told OurAmazingPlanet.

A grand eventThe Grand Canyon park staff, along with the help of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, will be setting up solar telescopes and helping people safely view the eclipse. NASA scientists will be present to talk about the eclipse, as well as recent lunar findings. They will also have eclipse glasses for sale and will demonstrate how to use binoculars to safely set up a projection of the eclipse on a piece of paper. After the eclipse, the park will host a star party. [Top 10 Most Visited National Parks]

Marshall noted that, like other national parks, the Grand Canyon boasts signs warning people not to look directly at the sun, or to view the sun through telescopes, binoculars or cameras without a solar filter. Doing so will damage your eyes.

At Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, the annual Astronomy Festival has been moved to coincide with eclipse weekend. Great Basin National Park in Nevada will hold a pre-eclipse party Saturday night with a presentation by an actor playing Galileo, and a special program on Sunday. Several parks will instruct guests on how to make a pinhole viewer of their own to safely observe the eclipse. Several other parks are receiving assistance from their local amateur astronomy clubs to help the public safely watch the show.

Visitors should bring flashlights and jackets, especially if they plan to stay after the eclipse concludes.

"People come to parks to enjoy a dark night sky, and see things like the Milky Way," Marshall said."We can really facilitate people seeing even daytime events," she added.A spectacular view

But Marshall warns that, while the eclipse will make an interesting image, it won't necessarily make a great photograph.Aiming a camera at the eclipse unprotected could damage it. Hopeful photographers need to add a solar filter to their setup, which will wash out the view of the landscape.

"The casual photographer won't be able to get a photo of the eclipse over the canyon," she said.Instead, she urges people to enjoy the image captured in their memory.

And there will be plenty of memories made. According to Marshall, all of the campgrounds and hotels around the Grand Canyon that take reservations are booked. Though the first-come, first-serve campgrounds are still available, she anticipates that they, too, will fill quickly, leaving hopeful visitors with a drive of more than an hour to the nearest hotel.

Although only a handful of western parks will receive the full effect of the eclipse, another 125 parks lay along the path of the partial eclipse, where they will provide a stunning view to those not fortunate enough to see the complete show. From Alaska to Minnesota, national parks will catch a partial eclipse or a partial view.

I thought this a very interesting article ... and I can only wonder what all will truly be taking place behind the veil during this particular eclipse, during these particular times …Never failing to remember that the Pleiadians also known as the Seven Sister Stars and their star colonies were conquered over 2000 years ago … during times following the satanic celestials and diabolical reptilians becoming allies …

When these two evil forces joined … the alliance of star colonies holding the original time line ascension associated with the Mother Earth had been disembarked and could no longer reach their connection with the Mother Earth … during these times … both the celestial government and earthen government associated with the heliosphere and Mother Earth had been completely taken over by the enemies ….

These were days evil ruled the Egyptian’s seats of power …until now ….

On May 20, 2012, for the first time in 26,000 years, the Sun and Moon, and the constellation responsible for our spiritual evolution and ascension, the mystic Pleiades, will align in a spectacular, full Annular Solar Eclipse and a rare solar eclipse alignment will happen between the Earth, the Sun and, our central Sun, Alcyone in the Pleiades Constellation.An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun’s light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometres wide.

It will be the first central eclipse of the 21st century in the continental USA, and also the first annular eclipse there since the solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 which was also the previous eclipse of this series Solar Saros 128.“The Pyramid of the Sun outside Mexico City at Teotihuacan is said to be aligned with the Pleiades, for its west face and many of the surrounding streets were aligned directly with the setting point of the Pleiades on midnight of the night when it is at its highest point.

The Pleiades was clearly revered also by the Mayans, who in the area of Chichen Itza knew that the Sun casts a snake-like shadow on the side of the north stairway of the Kukulcan pyramid during the spring equinox. Some scholars have calculated that about 60 days after this shadow’s appearance, when the sun reaches its zenith over the Pyramid at mid-day (May 20 – May 23), there is another direct alignment with the Pleiades. This Pleiades-sun alignment may have a direct connection with Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent that came to bring a greater wisdom to the planet. The ancient Egyptians also singled out the Pleiades as a female goddess, probably most often recognized as Neith, the “divine mother”, or Hathor, who took on the form of a cow (who carried the seeds of life). Pyramidologists working in Egypt in the last twelve years have found pyramidal texts that suggest the Egyptians revered the Pleiades as a higher divine star system, especially Alcyone, its brightest star.”

The Pleiades are a well-known sight in the Northern Hemisphere in winter and in the Southern Hemisphere in summer, and have been known since ancient times to cultures all around the world. Early Dakota stories speak of the ancestors as being the Pleiades. The Hopis called the Pleiadians the ‘Chuhukon’, meaning those who cling together. They considered themselves direct descendents of the Pleiadians.

Navajos named the Pleiades the ‘Sparkling Suns’, the home of the ‘Black God’. The Iroquois pray to them for happiness.The Cree claim to have come to Earth from the stars in spirit form first and then became flesh and blood. Some Native Americans believed that all tribes in North America came from the Pleiades. That they were actually descendents and had been given a task by the Pleiadians to keep the Earth safe.

This story was updated at 4:45 a.m. ET. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private space capsule called Dragon soared into the predawn sky Tuesday, riding a pillar of flame like its beastly namesake on a history-making trip to the International Space Station.The unmanned capsule, built by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), is the first non-governmental spacecraft to launch to the space station, ushering in a new era of partnership between the public and private spaceflight programs."I think this is an example of American entrepreneurship at its best," said Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's commercial crew and cargo program, in a briefing before the launch. About 100 VIP guests were on hand to witness the launch, NASA officials said. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX launched its Dragon capsule at 3:44 a.m. EDT (0744 GMT) today (May 22) from a pad here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It blasted off atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, a 157-foot (48-meter) booster powered by nine Merlin rocket engines. The space station was flying 249 miles above the North Atlantic Ocean as the rocket lifted off, NASA officials said. [Launch Photos: SpaceX's Dragon Blasts Off for Space Station]Private spaceship in orbitThe gumdrop-shaped capsule is 14.4 feet tall (4.4 meters) and 12 feet wide (3.7 m), and packed with 1,014 pounds (460 kilograms) of cargo for the space station, including 674 pounds (306 kg) of food and supplies for the crew, as well as student-designed science experiments and a laptop computer.The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage is also reportedly carrying ashes from 308 people, including actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on the 1960s television series "Star Trek," and Mercury program astronaut Gordon Cooper. The ashes were flown under a deal with the "memorial spaceflight" company Celestis, according to ABC News and Reuters.The SpaceX launch vehicle is named after the Millennium Falcon of "Star Wars," while the capsule got its moniker from the Peter, Paul and Mary song, "Puff, the Magic Dragon."Today marked only the second-ever launch of a Dragon capsule, and the third flight for the Falcon 9 rocket. It was the second attempt to launch the space station-bound test flight after a launch try Saturday was thwarted by a faulty rocket engine valve. Repairs were made over the weekend, and the SpaceX team counted down smoothly to the liftoff this morning."One thing that they are very good at is being able to work through launch abort and treat those problems and be prepared to go again in a very short time," Mike Horkachuck, NASA project executive for SpaceX, said Monday (May 21).Today's launch is the last planned test flight for SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program intended to develop a private-sector replacement for the cargo-delivery services of the retired space shuttles. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract to fly at least 12 unmanned missions to the space station through 2015.Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of boosting commercial access to space and, ultimately, aiming for deep-space exploration, including missions to Mars. The success of today's launch was never certain or assured, Musk had repeatedly said.Today, the mission's uncertainty eased up a bit, he said."Falcon flew perfectly!!" Musk wrote in a Twitter post from Falcon 9's mission control room in Hawthorne. "Dragon in orbit, comm locked and solar arrays active!! Feels like a giant weight just came off my back."Orbital catch upThe spacecraft is due to spend its first day on orbit catching up with the 240-mile high (390 km) space station, where it will rendezvous Thursday (May 24) and perform a fly-by to within 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) to check its navigation systems. [Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon?]On Friday (May 25), the capsule is slated to perform a series of maneuvers to approach the station, with crewmembers onboard the outpost issuing commands to Dragon. If the spacecraft passes a set of "go-no go" checks at Mission Control in Houston, NASA will approve the vehicle to approach the International Space Station. From inside, astronauts Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the lab's robotic arm to grab Dragon and berth it to the station's Harmony node.The hatches between the two spacecraft are due to be opened early Saturday (May 26), so the crew can enter Dragon and unpack its deliveries.Dragon is due to spend about a week and a half attached to the outpost. On May 31, the capsule will be packed with completed science experiments and other equipment, unberthed, and sent back toward Earth. The vehicle is equipped with a heat shield to withstand the fires of re-entry, and is due to splash down and be recovered by ship in the Pacific Ocean.Private spaceflight realityDragon is an unmanned version of a capsule ultimately intended to carry people as well.Another company, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., also has a NASA contract to deliver cargo to the space station, and plans to launch its first test flight later this year.The program is part of a larger effort by NASA to outsource low-Earth orbit transportation to the private sector, allowing the space agency to begin work on a new spacecraft and heavy-lift rocket to visit asteroids, the moon and Mars.The plan has received criticism from some lawmakers and members of the public, who worry that commercial vehicles aren't as safe or reliable as NASA's in-house built spacecraft."It's really easy to criticize, and it's very difficult to solve a problem and actually do something," said SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. "So I tend to focus on the business and getting our jobs done and not focus on those that want to criticize."NASA officials and leaders of the commercial space sector say the time is right for space to transition from an exclusively government regime to an arena open to private companies."I kind of see that transition as being inevitable," said Phil McAlister, NASA's director of Commercial Spaceflight Development. "I believe it is going to happen at some point. If it's not today and this mission falls short of expectations, it is going to happen eventually."http://ca.news.yahoo.com/spacex-launches-private-capsule-historic-trip-space-station-075123385.html

The Moon will pass through the dark-red core of Earth's shadow on June 4th. Watch the video here.

On June 4th, 2012, there's going to be a full Moon. According to Native American folklore it's the Strawberry Moon , so-called because the short season for harvesting strawberries comes during the month of June. This Strawberry's going to have a bite taken out of it.

At 3:00 am Pacific Daylight Time, not long before sunrise on Monday, June 4th, the Moon passes directly behind our planet. A broad stretch of lunar terrain around the southern crater Tycho will fall under the shadow of Earth, producing the first lunar eclipse of 2012. At maximum eclipse, around 4:04 am PDT, 37% of the Moon's surface will be in the dark.

Because only a fraction of the Strawberry Moon is shadowed, astronomers call this a partial eclipse. But it's totally beautiful.

The eclipse is visible in North and South America, Australia, eastern parts of Asia and all across the Pacific Ocean. On the Atlantic side of the United States, the eclipse occurs just as the Moon is setting in the west--perfect timing for the Moon illusion.

For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. In fact, a low Moon is no wider than any other Moon--cameras prove it--but the human brain insists otherwise.

The eclipsed moon, hanging low in the west at daybreak on June 4th, will seem extra-large to US observers east of the Mississippi. The fact that the extra size is just an illusion in no way detracts from its visual appeal.

The sun-Earth-Moon alignment that causes this eclipse is the second of three rapid-fire celestial line-ups. First there was the annular solar eclipse of May 20th, when the Moon moved between Earth and the sun to turn our star into a "ring of fire."

The lunar eclipse of June 4th reverses the order of the Earth and moon, so that the moon is eclipsed instead of the sun. Finally, we have the transit of Venus on June 5th and 6th , when the second planet moves directly between the Earth and sun. Backyard astronomy doesn't get much better than this.

The planet Venus (upper left) approaches the sun for a rare solar transit on June …

This view from the Slooh Space Camera shows the amazing start of the 2012 transit …

NEW YORK — It's finally here! The historic transit of Venus, the skywatching event of the year, has begun.

The planet Venus has started its nearly seven-hour trek across the face of the sun. Today is the last time Earthlings will see such a view until 2117.The Venus transit officially began today (June 5) just after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), and will last six hours and 40 minutes.Venus will look like a small black disk as it crosses the bright sun, which can be viewed only with protective eyewear. The sight is visible from North America, Europe, Asia and eastern Africa. Because of the International Date Line, some parts of the world are witnessing the transit on June 6.Venus transits occur in pairs separated by eight years that come around less than once a century. The last Venus transit was in 2004, while the one before that was in 1882. [Watch Live! See Transit of Venus Webcasts Here]

"It is the rarest predictable astronomical event," wrote astronomer C. Alex Young, a sun expert and astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., on his blog The Sun Today. "It only happens 4 times every 234 years!"The first transit observed by humans and documented was in 1639. In the intervening years, scientists have utilized the rare transits of Venus to measure the absolute distances to Venus and the sun, and to discover Venus' atmosphere.Now, scientists will be training the eyes of multiple telescopes, including NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in orbit and many on the world's tallest mountains, on the sight. This time around, researchers hope to learn more about Venus' atmosphere, as well as test techniques to discover alien planets by looking for signs of them transiting their stars.Skywatchers can view today's transit through special glasses equipped with solar filters, through pinhole projectors, or with #14 welder's lenses. Telescopes with solar filters can also provide a great view.Neither the naked eye, nor binoculars or telescopes, should be pointed toward the sun at any time without a filter in place.

Veteran space photographers Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre of Boston, Mass., have ventured to the Los Angeles area in California in order to photograph the transit of Venus. The photographers and occasional SPACE.com contributor writers report near pristine viewing conditions at their chosen observing spot: Hermosa Beach."It's blue skies here in Los Angeles and a lot of people are aware of the transit," Joson told SPACE.com, adding that she and Aguirre, her husband, are using the same cameras they used to document the 2004 Venus transit.

Joson and Aguirre are eagerly awaiting a special moment during today 's event when the sun slips down close to the horizon. They hope to capture the moment of sunset with Venus' silhouette on the sun."That's the reason we chose the beach here," Joson said.

Here in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History will host a webcast from an observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii, while the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York has set up two observing posts along the city's west side, weather permitting, and invited the public observe the transit. Organizers are hoping for a break in a persistent cloud layer today to observe at least some of the transit before the sun sets.In San Francisco, the Exploratorium will host its own webcast also with views from Hawaii's Mauna Loa observatory, as well as a local transit-observing event. Meanwhile, scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in nearby Moffett Field will discuss how the Venus transit can help astronomers discover alien planets around distant stars.Our senior writer Mike Wall will be covering the Ames event for SPACE.com."It's a sunny, clear day in San Francisco, and I'm hoping conditions are similar at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, which lies about 40 miles south. You can never take the sunshine for granted here in the Bay Area," Wall said before the transit began.At-home viewers can also watch any of the multiple webcasts being broadcast online by telescopes around the world. Click here for a full list of Venus transit webcasts.

Editor's Note: SPACE.com will be posting updates and pictures of the transit as it progresses. If you snap photos of the 2012 transit of Venus across the sun and would like to share them with SPACE.com, send images and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at: tmalik@space.com.Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.